The Mystical Body

Abstract

[lUMAN nature is perfected and sanctified by affiliation with the divine. For as in the Person of Adam all men had sinned, now through the humanity of the God-Man, mankind was to be freed from the penalty of that sin and human nature forever glorified in Christ. Christ, then, is not the monopoly of any nation; He is for all men and for all time. He is God and He is man : He is the model man. He is the way, Who will show us the way. He is the Truth, Who will teach us the truth. He is the Life, Who will give us life. From the humble home at Nazareth, when "the Word was made flesh," on through time and eternity, the life of Christ is to continue for the Catholic Church is the extension of the Incarnate Word. To teach us the way, the truth and the life; to bring man to the fruition of the inborn, God-given longing for the Divinity, Jesus Christ instituted that visible society which we know as the Catholic Church, His Mystical Body. When we speak of the Mystical Body of Christ we mean the Catholic Church. This metaphorical expression has been given to us by Christ Himself, yet it is more than a metaphor, it is a divine equation. Our Lord speaks without distinction of Himself and His Church as one. In fact the primer lesson of the Apostle of the Gentiles was the "oneness" of Christ and His Church. "And as he (Paul) went on his journey, it came to pass that he drew nigh to Damascus ; and suddenly a light from heaven shined round about him. And falling on the ground, he heard a voice saying to him: Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? Who said: Who art thou, Lord? And he: I am Jesus whom thou persecutest."1 Paul, the proud Pharisee, the disciple of Gamaliel and the ardent persecutor of the Christians learned that in persecuting the lowly Christians, he was striking at Christ Himself. It was Jesus Who complained.